Diary: Oslo the Olympic Brain

McCann and AllofUs stuck the animal, called Oslo, in the front window of their Russell Square offices during the Games. But the rodent wasn't just there to attract young children in the market for a new pet - its job was to answer Olympics trivia questions. Passers-by could push a button and the gerbil (with some help from a computer) would process the request and cough up some trivia on to a screen. McCann's Rob Doubal said: "When we met Oslo the gerbil and realised his potential, we set about feeding Oslo all the facts he needed to become the Olympic Brain." This is probably rather similar to the BBC's rationale for allowing Matt Baker to commentate on the Games.